. >>theunitedstatescondemnsin the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. since our founding, the united states has been a nation that respects all faiths. we reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. but there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. none. >> not content to sit on the sidelines at a critical moment in his presidential campaign, governor mitt romney plunged himself into the middle of this developing crisis, sharply criticizing the president by a written statement last night and doubling down on that criticism this morning. >> when our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response of the united states must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation. and apology for america's values is never the right course. the president and his administration have done something which is inconsistent with the principles of america. >> team romney has thus far focused its misleading attacks on a statement made by the u.s. embassy in cairo before any attacks began. it was a preemptive stat

romney the next president oftheunitedstates. ofamerica. thank you, everybody. and god bless you. >> that was vice presidential nominee paul ryan wrapping up his remarks at the values voter summit in washington, d.c. he was making the pitch to the public and his own party, that despite the week the romney/ryan ticket has had it ain't over. it is friday, september 14th. this is "now." joining me today, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor michael eric dyson. nicolas is here from "the new york times" as daily show cocreator and author of "lizz free or die,iz winstead and buzz feed editor and chief ben smith. we are following a couple developing stories in the hour. the university of texas austin has evacuated all campus buildings after receiving bomb threats. school officials say a man called in claiming to have placed bombs throughout campus. no explosives have been found. no decision yet about whether to resume classes today. north dakota state university is ordering a campus evacuation after receiving its own bomb threats. we will continue to monitor this

around islam and the muslim religion intheunitedstateshasbecome as toxic as it ever has been and that video i think is a crystal clear example of it. >> just to jump in. i think -- i don't know if you've ever been on read it for instance any day you want to find something to be offended by any religion. this film had been out for months. it's a film that's ludicrous and offensive, there was a very specific chain of events people chose to organize riots, assault on the embassy where there were leaders making deliberate choices in the internal politics of this country. the idea that this movie was the central force here, that this was allen inevitable -- all an inevitable outcome -- >> i'm not trying to say that. an industry in arab world, that clerics that ferment their hate. the news outlet that first broadcast this news outlet notorious for creating controversy and creating tension within the sort of western and arab -- >> any given day you can find something like that. >> what is it, renaldo, the anthropologist talks about imperial nostalgia. we destroy countries and then m

that insulted the little darlings feelings. >> the leader defendedtheunitedstatesofamerica and said there will be consequences if you attack this country. >> weekly standard kol lull nift bill crystal wrote, romney is right to bring home the weakness of the obama administration, exemplified in the disgraceful statement issued yesterday. if romney can prove strong and thoughtful over foreign policy it could be an infliction point in the presidential campaign. richard wolffe, i don't doubt this an inflection point we led into the show with mitt romney talking about making america stronger and again beating this drum of conflict overseas. one point he said there's only one conflict allotted in the president's defense plan as if americans have some sort of blood lust for going into various countries around the world and engaging militarily. do you think the gop can turn this around for mitt romney? >> no. there are a couple of problems, major problems, that mitt romney has underscored with his performance over the last 24 hours. one is that, as a challenger, especially against an incumb

to be the president oftheunitedstates, akey criteria is who is going to be the commander in chief. who is going to be that presence abroad when the u.s. needs to give that type of outward presence and who is going to trust with that. with all the comments and statements the president has done a good job. >> the fact is, the first ten years of this century have hardly been storied successfully for republican leadership, let's be frank. thousands of lives lost. the reconstruction or creation of democracy in iraq and afghanistan still troubled, inadequate, insufficient sheriff's departmentally resourced all kinds -- insufficiently issued and still using the same rhetoric who wants to persuade us to lead this nation forward. >> without illiciting any specifics or the ones he has mentioned are basically the same as president obama if we're talking about red lines and so forth, martin made the important point when you look at brass tacks and what the president has done when you look at counter terrorism he has been as aggressive as bush/cheney. >> more so. >> this is one of those cases where the part

leads to economic growth here intheunitedstates. >>yes, as i mentioned in the column, i brought a version of that chart to see paul ryan a year or so ago when hes and a member of congress and, like a lot of journalists i spoke to him regularly about economic pr policy and said, how do you square this chart with the idea tax cuts are the most important factor in creating economic growth? you don't need a chart, think about the last 20 years or so. h.w. bush first, then bill clinton raised taxes, all of these predictions of doom, instead we had the '90s boom and george w. bush cut taxes and there were predictions of prosperity and instead we had the slowest decade since world war ii and then the crisis. none of this is to say that tax cuts cause economic problems or tax increases lead to prosperity. i don't know anyone who seriously makes that argument. the question is, how important are tax cuts to economic growth? and i don't know how you look at recent history and say that relatively modest changes in the top marginal tax rate is the main force driving the american economy. >>